Guidance

Mr. Craig Turner Mrs. Mary Rosene

Welcome to the White County Middle School Counseling and Guidance page. We are honored to work with your child throughout their middle school years. As counselors, we understand the difficulties that many middle school students and parents are presented with. That is why we offer a “balanced” and comprehensive school-counseling program that can be beneficial for all students. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive, developmental counseling program that equips students with the knowledge and skills to contribute as productive members of society. The following services are offered to our students:

Individual Counseling-This service is provided to individual students with the goal of helping them with educational, personal, social, or career concerns. The primary purpose of these sessions is to help students explore their concerns, make appropriate plans of action, and be successful in following through with their plans. When students require long-term counseling, they are referred to public and/or private agencies and practitioners outside the school who can meet their needs on a long-term basis.

Group Counseling- The counselor will form groups of students who have similar concerns and use counseling skills and processes with these groups to enable students to support one another and to learn skills to help deal with a specific problem. Group counseling relies on each member’s willingness to share concerns, listen to other group members, accept suggestions to resolve concerns, and offer suggestions that will help other group members. Some student concerns that are appropriate for group counseling are: Dealing with academic problems, setting career goals, handling divorce, stopping substance abuse, and getting along with others. These sessions usually consist of small groups of students, who are led by the counselor and meet once a week for a specific number of sessions.

Group Guidance-The counselor will meet with the students, usually within a classroom setting to assist them in learning specific information about themselves and their development. Group guidance services are done in small and large groups depending on the needs of the students and the purpose of the activity. Coping with test anxiety and training for conflict resolution are examples of good guidance.

Consultation- Helping students in their educational development require the combined efforts of parents, teachers, counselors, and other concerned professionals. The counselors at WCMS consult with parents, teachers and others to determine the most appropriate services to help students. Sometimes the counselor provides consulting services to groups of students, parents, and teachers. These group consultations can be problem-solving sessions, or they can be held for informational or planning purposes.

Referral/Placement Services- The school counselor assists students, parents, and teachers in determining the most appropriate service to help with educational, personal, social, and career decisions, and also in placing students in appropriate programs of study. Some of the strategies used by the counselor to assist in this area are: Helping students plan their educational program, assisting parents with referrals to community agencies, and interpreting test data with teachers to make appropriate decisions about academic placement.

Peer Mediation Program- Peer-mediated conflict resolution at WCMS is used as an effective method for creating a positive atmosphere where all students can develop prosocial behavior. In addition, this program helps to improve the quality of teacher-student interaction by reducing teacher-imposed solutions in student conflict situations.

Confidentiality

The counselors at White County Middle School are here “for the students,” and though they cannot provide long term “therapy,” they will do their utmost to promote the personal, social, educational, and emotional development of students as a whole. Guarding and maintaining the privacy of students and their families is a primary concern of the counseling staff at White County Middle School. Very often a student will not visit a counselor if he/she believes that what he/she says will be told to others. Please understand that there are instances when confidentiality must be broken. Cases of endangerment, such as physical or sexual abuse, neglect, threatening to harm others, or suicidal thoughts are times when counselors have a legal obligation to break confidentiality.

Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions about confidentiality or the counseling program at White County Middle School. We look forward to working with you and your child.